Friday, February 16, 2018

Myanmar Field Trip Part 1: Arrival

2018.02.15 Yangon

Good evening everyone! I’m Yi-Chia Chang, the M2 exchange student in Civil Engineering Department, The University of Tokyo. I’m excited to share my experience during the future 8-day field trip in Yangon and Bago, Myanmar. The first-day experience in Myanmar could be divided into 3 parts: Surprise, People, and Life.

Took off from Tokyo!

Surprise

After arriving Yangon International Airport, the first surprise is that airport security division staff had a concern with the drone we carried to do the observation for tidal bore. Therefore, they detained our drone and asked us to bring permission to take the drone back. It is obvious that Myanmar government is paying much attention to the usage of drone and carrying drone into Myanmar requires necessary permission application.

Yangon international airport

People

The first stop is to visit Yangon Technological University because one of the coordinator’s office for JICA project is located in YTU. It is very interesting to meet Mr. Okasaki, Mr. Bobo, and Mr. San Win Mng. Mr. Okasaki is kind to help settle everything. Mr. Bobo is the second year master student in YTU and will graduate in few months. His research is about tidal bore effect, which is what we will observe with a drone in the next few days. Mr. San Win Mng is the second year Ph.D. student in YTU. With his help, Ralph san and I could safely check in the hotel for tonight. While we were in YTU, Kawasaki sensei was arranging the schedule of field survey and Ralph san was preparing equipment for gauge installation in Bago river basin. After finishing arrangement, everybody got into cars and head to Aroma Hotel, located in Bago city.

Yangon Technological University (YTU)

Ralph san prepared instruments in the office

Life

The Aroma Hotel is the one we will stay in the next few days in Bago. The room is, in fact, cozy and comfortable. The little tip might be aware is the voltage in Myanmar is 240V, different from Japan’s 100V. The converter may be required for some situation. The first meal I had in Myanmar, which was also the Chinese New Year Eve dinner, was Chicken Kung Bao rice. It is one kind of traditional Chinese food. The chicken Kung Pao is surprisingly delicious (I did not expect it to be good, or maybe I was just too hungry) and the price is reasonable. It only costs around 4,500 Kyat (around 360 Japanese Yen).

Aroma Hotel room view

Chicken Kung Pao

To sum up, the first day in Myanmar is exciting and also exhausting due to communication and traffic. I believe it will definitely be an amazing experience for observation in the next few days!